The month of September brings with itself plenty of important events to make this month a month full of happiness by spreading care, joy and humanity of the occasion. Have a look at the list below and find out a cause that will resonate with you:

Teacher’s Day (September 5)

Everybody needs a teacher to guide them along the right path. However, the principal impact of a teacher lies not in imparting knowledge but rather, in inspiring young minds. A good teacher is dedicated, transformative, patient and trustworthy. But a great teacher’s tutelage sticks throughout one’s life.

On Teacher’s Day, experience the joy of transforming and guiding someone’s life. Take the example of Himalayan Academy’s Project Alpha, which is trying to build a classroom for underprivileged children and provide them with living space and education for free!

Alternatively, you can make a great difference to your local school by starting a fundraiser like this one to provide better learning resources or even go out to sponsor the education of a child here!

Alzheimer’s Day (September 21)

In 1940, the average life expectancy for an a Indian stood at 41 years. Six decades later, it has risen to 60 years. Security and a healthy life for the elderly in India is threatened by lack of laws to protect them as well as a low number of homes and shelters to help them. In most cases, the elderly who lack a family to take care of them, end up living miserable lives.

This is especially true for people with Alzheimer’s Disease who need intensive care but are not giving any. Those who suffer from the problem are often abandoned or put into ill-equipped old age homes. . Alzheimer’s often starts manifesting itself in the form of dementia and progressively becomes much worse to the point where they are unable to fend for themselves. This is even more aggravating if the elderly suffers from abandonment, destitution and desolation. In India, nearly 40% of the elderly live alone, It is vital, therefore, that we do our best to care for them.

You can help Dignity Foundation in their effort to ensure that the elderly don’t go to bed hungry every night. Through their plan, they seek to provide 50 elderly with food rations at least for one year to help them live better lives.

World Rose Day (September 22)

Diagnosed with Askin Tumour, a rare form of blood cancer, the 12-year-old Canadian, Melinda Rose, was given only 2 weeks to live. However, she defied the odds and spent the next 6 months of her life full of love and joy, all the while raising awareness about how important care and support is for cancer patients. In her memory and that of many others who strived against this debilitating disease, every 22nd September is honoured as the World Rose Day. On this day, people suffering from cancer are offered roses as a kind of gesture and no matter how jaded the struggle gets, it’s always comes as a kind and considerate surprise to those fighting this disease. Here in India, the problem is even more acute. Many children suffer from cancer with most of them being congenital; and since a substantial proportion of them come from poor families, the problem becomes so much more critical.

5-year-old Neil Adamis one such child undergoing the harrowing ordeal of combating cancer. He has been battling Leukemia for over a year and his condition had witnessed some mild improvements followed by a subsequent major early relapse and now the cancer is back in full force. With your help, we can help Neil get the much needed bone marrow transplant surgery which, as of now, is his only option to survive.

Day of the Deaf (September 26)

Imagine what it would feel like to never ever be able to experience music, hear the voices of the loved ones or listen to the sounds of nature again. Quite unthinkable, no? Yet, millions of Indians live their lives through that prospect, some say the number could be as high as 60 million. Due to their inability to hear, the deaf are unable to employ language in the same way as we do. The only non-written mode of communication they have is through the use of sign language which is understood by only a few. Couple deafness with blindness and you have the most crippling form of disability altogether. Lack of two critical senses makes them more vulnerable than other and as a result, they have to spend their lives within the confines of their own homes requiring constant supervision. However, with proper education and care this problem can be overcome, as evidenced by the example of Helen Keller who went on to become one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century.AAINAaims to empower 30 deaf-blind children with the same by providing them with proper education and critical communication skills. Their effort could prove vital in enabling these children to become independent and better integrate within the society. You can read about their deeply moving story here.

World Tourism Day (September 27)

India hosts about 10 million tourists each year and generates 220 billion USD in 2016, nearly 10% of the GDP and provides over 40 million jobs. A major chunk of the tourism sector includes environmental and wildlife tourism. It is therefore, imperative that our environmental resources are protected and wildlife preserved. And it is the cities that deserve protection, too. Our national capital Delhi consistently ranks among the most polluted cities in the world and air pollution poses a significant health risk to everyone residing within and detracts potential visitors who wish to experience the rich heritage and culture of the place. To help ease the burden, Verhaen Khanna has decided to protect 1713 trees from destruction in Pragati Maidan, with an aim to help the city breathe better. You can join New Delhi Nature Society on their project to save the city’s lungs.

Though the above days are good reasons, any day is a great day to start a fundraiser for your cause!

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, India will witness 9th Daan Utsav or Joy of Giving week, her very own ‘festival of giving’ starting from 2nd till 8th of October 2017.

On ImpactGuru.com, Daan Utsav is not just a week, it’s a movement. A movement to make giving a habit. A movement to inform and educate people about the necessity of charity. A movement that excites generosity by making people realize that they have the potential to create a huge change with a simple act of giving!

We celebrate the Daan Utsav week by inviting NGOs for a month-long fundraising experience! We begin on 15th September 2017 and let NGOs run fundraisers till 15 October 2015! To motivate NGOs to go all out with their fundraising, we also have special prizes for NGOs for different achievements!

As hundreds of NGOs on ImpactGuru.com will be preparing to make the most out of this season of giving, we thought we’d give you a lead with our timeline!

While an occasional social media share or a donor emailer will surely inform your community about your fundraiser, Daan Utsav is your opportunity to talk to a larger audience and enroll more people towards your cause. And, this requires proper planning.

As they say, a goal without a plan is just a wish. Here’s how to plan your Daan Utsav fundraiser!

Last week of August: Tie your shoelaces and get ready

Research: Determine the best fundraising methods for your cause. What has worked for you in the past? What are the best practices that other NGOs use? Evaluate the following methods and see where you can get the best results from:

Offline events

Volunteer activity

Online promotions

Register for activities: Be a part of online forums, Facebook groups as well as the Daan Utsav web portal to stay updated and involved with pre-fundraiser activities. There are exciting opportunities for NGOs to raise money offered by various platforms. Focus on your visibility.

If you want to register for our Daan Utsav Crowdfunding Contest that lets you offer tax benefits to Indian, US and UK donors, fill this form.

Assess your Resources and Requirements to start your campaign:

What kind of support will you need to make this campaign successful

How can you rope in volunteers for your fundraising efforts?

What are the online and offline activities you can organize?

Know how active you are on social media

Decide on a goal: The goal amount is a key aspect that is often ignored. While crowdfunding allows you to raise as much money as you want, picking a goal amount needs some thinking. Make sure you pick a “justified goal amount”, which means that you must be able to break your target amount down into specifics, either in financial terms, or in terms of impact. Your donors should know how you will use the money they’ve contributed to raise. Justify its use well.

For example: Here’s the fund utilization report by AAINA that breaks up their goal amount.

Finalize your audience: List down your core donors, names and contact information for people who are most likely to contribute, and create emailers to send to your donor base. This core list can be easily converted into a network. Make a request to share your online fundraiser or offline event details within donor circles so you can reach out to a bigger audience.

Craft A Social media Strategy: Follow the Rule-Of-two, which basically means:

Identify two platforms that you have the largest presence on

Create daily/weekly posts for the upcoming month, and make sure each post is an update

Create a team/Partnership – Get tech-savvy volunteers onboard to enhance social media presence

Join Facebook groups:Join groups that match your profession or interests and spread word within that community

Join hands with Twitter and Instagram bigshots: Individuals with more than 5K to 10K followers can help you to reach wider audience. Find the ones who would be passionate about your cause and who could spread the word for you.

2nd week of September: Get into the full swing – Create a campaign

Write a good fundraising story: Build an emotional connect with your donors, elaborate on your cause, and appeal to them to contribute to your fundraiser. Here’s an example of a great NGO fundraiser story.

Sought your images/videos: Add images, videos related to your campaign that will give a face to your campaign and make donors feel invested in it.

Decide your rewards: Rewards can be a great way of thanking your donors as well as staying connected with them. Even a small thank you card, memorabilia or a souvenir from you can be a good reminder of you for when they want to donate again.

Twitter – Start a conversation about your cause, ask for ideas, reach out to celebrities and ask for their support. Pick a hashtag and get going. Use #DaanUtsav to reach appropriate audience.

Whatsapp – Draft messages explaining the fundraiser with effective images and a link to the fundraiser, request recipients to forward it further.

Encourage others to share : Get your team of volunteers to share the fundraiser on their social media and amongst their friends.

Reach out to the diaspora: Impact Guru allows you to reach out to the Indian diaspora in the UK/USA by offering them tax benefits through our partnership with GlobalGiving. Interact with diaspora community pages/groups on Facebook to talk about your activities.

4th week of September: Make some friends – Reach out for partnerships

Draft a Press Release: Pitch your story (a project or some recent activity) to the press. Media coverage can help you to make your fundraiser popular in your city/community.

Reach out to the local community: Pick areas where you NGO has the most impact and print flyers for the adjoining community to step out and contribute to your fundraiser.

Reach out to local corporates/ MNCs: Ask them to contribute from their CSR budgets or pitch some interesting employee engagement programs to them on Daan Utsav.

1st week of October: Bring home the Utsav – Make the week eventful

Conduct Offline events – Daan Utsav is not just about donations, it’s about getting others involved in empowering others. Conduct a gathering, a meeting session or any interactive event where you can show the donor the problem real time, persuading him/her to step forward and help.

Give social Media updates: Provide constant social media updates about your fundraiser as well as your organisation’s progress. How many people have you impacted so far? How has your program helped the local community?

Share testimonials: Share testimonials of those you have been able to help in some way. These are proof of your effectiveness and help the donor understand that the change you bring is real.

2nd week of October: Continue the joy – Keep going!

Retarget your donors: Only 10% of the people who visit your campaign, actually make a donation. Run a retargeting ad to capture the 90% of potential donors. Read this to understand how retargeting helps and how to create an ad. Alternatively, we can help you retarget your campaign with our back-end insights! Contact your manager for details.

Give a shout-out: Give social media shout-outs and thank yous to those who have donated to your campaign so far. This helps bring attention to your fundraiser and bring in more donors.

Increase the sharing: Go all out in your last week by sharing as much as you can. Share your fundraiser thrice a week if possible.

After 15 October: Take a Bow – Say thank you!

Thank your donors: Send a personal thank you note to each of the donors or mention them on social media to appreciate their gesture!

Give updates: People would like to know about the impact they have created with their contributions. Create a simple report of how you used the funds raised, and send this out to donors. This will increase your credibility, and the chances of receiving assistance again in the future.

You must have heard the story of the early who bird catches the worm. The lesson holds true for fundraising campaigns. Get a head start and ensure success. Start NOW!

The month of August holds great importance to Indians and what better way to honour this month than to celebrate it by spreading care, love, happiness, and equality to fellow Indians within irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, age, status or economic condition.

The August calendar promises some great celebrations, but you can make this month happier by doing good along with having fun.We have compiled a list of causes that might resonate with you.

Now, let’s get started!

1. August 6th: Friendship Day

Everybody needs a friend they can count on. However, not everyone is so lucky. So many traverse the ups and downs of life with no support, all on their own. Come Friendship Day, celebrate your friendship by spending the day with your friend at an orphanage or an animal shelter.
There are over 20 million orphans in India. Of which, the overwhelming 99.7% have been abandoned by their parents.

But YOU can help bring some light and comfort into their lives by extending your hand of friendship.

Even a little amount of love and friendship can be life-changing for these kids. Let them know that they are special,, and that they are not alone. Consider volunteering either directly or collaborate with an NGO. Once you are involved, you can start by promoting their physical and mental well-being. Organise educational programs, meal plans, health facilities, and sporting events. As these can be expensive for one person to bear, you can seek out like minded people to raise funds, those who want to create as much of an impact as you do.

You can start a fundraiser and collate resources from different people to finally bring love, care, and happiness in their lives. Alternatively, you can support a preexisting fundraiser, and we have one such campaign for you.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to have sisters know how incomplete our lives would be without them. Their sacrifice, effort and constant presence is tantamount to highest achievement anyone could hope for and any success remains incomplete without their constant support.

But millions of girls don’t get their efforts reciprocated are often disadvantaged when it comes to accessing equal opportunities. This has largely been due to restrictions put upon them by societal norms. This August, YOU can help change that.

Start a fundraiser to enable underprivileged girls to have access to quality education or make a donation to a cause in her name.

This campaign about helping underprivileged girls in Karnataka to continue their education might pique your interest.

3. August 13th: International Youth Day

From Newton publishing his first manuscript on calculus at the age of 23 and revolutionising the world, progressing it to modernity, to Zuckerberg becoming a billionaire at the age of 28 by and redefining social interactions using the internet, there is little doubt that much of the world’s pivotal and era defining accomplishments have been made by the youth.

So, what fuels this desire to innovate? Well, a quick answer would be the drive and freshness of the mind that youth brings to the table. The willingness to take risks, combined with drive and the impetus to learn are the major factors that enables them to reach so far ahead of the pack.

However, not all are so fortunate. Many are unable make it past the cusp to a better life due to lack of opportunities, no proper support and poor economic conditions. When they are struggling to get by and barely subsisting, where will they they get the encouragement to venture outwards and explore the unexplored?

This is where you can step in to support the fresh and young minds who can drive the world forward. You can help out by promoting educational and health programs which are deeply beneficial. If you encounter such a cause but don’t see much around it, and would like to help, don’t lose hope. You can start a fundraiser to do just that!

You can also support other people who are already working upon such issues. In fact, we are confident that this campaign about bringing education, personal development and career counseling to the youth in villages might just be what you are looking for!

4. August 8th: World Senior Citizen’s Day

“After a lifetime of working, raising families, and contributing to the success of this nation in countless other ways, senior citizens deserve to retire with dignity” – Charlie Gonzalez

We should all appreciate the fact that without the unbroken chain of knowledge and wisdom being passed down the generations, civilisation would be heading in a completely different direction than the one towards progress. And we see this in the form of our grandparents. Their role in our lives is invaluable and reciprocating their care, love, and affection are the decent things to do.

But what is ought to be is seldom the same as what is. Over 65% of India’s senior citizens have to rely upon others for their day to day lives and are very often neglected, abandoned and victimised. Right now, our elderly have to face with the prospect of living with indignity, ungratefulness, and apathy in perpetuity.

With your effort, a lot a can be achieved. Start a fundraiser to support them and offer them a chance to live their lives with security, love, and support. You can also support people who are already doing their bit in making a difference in their deeply significant lives.

India, the largest democracy in the world will turn 71 this month and celebrate its hard fought struggle to secure freedom and self-determination of its now 1.3 billion citizens. The day long celebration is marked with The President’s address to the nation along with 21 gun salute and The Prime Minister’s flag hoisting in the nation’s capital, New Delhi.

The celebration of freedom, is in stark contrast to at least 18 million of India’s own citizens who are still caught and enslaved, by human trafficking, child labour, indentured labour, illegal confinement etc. Come Independence Day, take a stand to display solidarity and provide support so that they too can rejoice and partake in the freedom that is well deserved by all. You can start a fundraiser to raise awareness and help a victim of trafficking or forced labour fight for justice. Or you can may consider contributing to this fundraiser which aims to support children rescued from exploitative and inhuman environments.

6. August 29th: National Sports Day of India

The day commemorates the birth date of the legendary Indian hockey player, Dhyan Chand. He was instrumental in making India win the 1928, the 1932 and the 1936 Olympic gold medals in Men’s Field Hockey. Due to his skill, he is often referred to as the ‘Wizard of Hockey.’

However, in a country where cricket is the dominant source of sports entertainment, there is not much space left for other sports, let alone hockey. Many promising players drop their dream of becoming a medal-winning world class athlete due to lack of funds and support.

Also, to have the competitive edge on the world stage over other athletes, it is imperative for them to start young and have all the resources at their disposal so that they can realise their true potential.

This is where YOU can help. Start a fundraiser to support up and coming athlete who show promise, or you can support a preexisting campaign such as this.

About Us

Impact Guru is a donation based crowdfunding platform for Indians across the world to give back to their country. We offer global crowdfunding solutions for individuals and organizations fundraising for medical causes, social causes, personal causes, creative projects, and various events. Incubated at Harvard Innovation Lab’s Venture Initiation Program in 2014 and PACT at Impact Hub in Singapore in the year 2015, Impact Guru has mobilised INR 329 Crores for various NGOs and social enterprises in more than 15 countries.